Baked Salted Maple Donuts

I’m baaaaaaack.

After taking an unintentional but much-needed hiatus, I am FINALLY feeling like myself again. It all started three weeks ago with the flu. I was hit HARD. It shocked me, too, because I hadn’t had the flu since I was a kid, and I forgot just how awful it is. I could barely get out of bed. My whole body ached. I couldn’t get the chills to stop. Whew. It was bad.

Then! After a week or so, I started to feel better, which was perfect because I had a work trip to Costa Rica coming up, and I needed to be at my best. Welp. I caught a bacterial stomach bug while there. The doctor thinks it was from something I ate or drank. Ugh. It was horrible. The symptoms lasted a week! I couldn’t eat anything. I felt like I was going to throw up every 30 seconds. Just terrible.

After much rest and a round of strong antibiotics, I am back! And finally feeling like I can take on the everyday tasks, such as writing this little blog. So yay for that! My husband and I had to cancel loads of plans these past few weeks, including a weekend away with just the two of us. Bummer. But he took me out to dinner this weekend, and I have to say, it felt so great to just be out of the house and functioning like a healthy human for once. It was fabulous.

To celebrate my recovery, I made us a batch of donuts. Because, really, is there any other way to celebrate? Unless gin is involved, I say no.

These donuts! You guys! They are soooooo good! This was one of those recipes where I had hopes, but they weren’t high ones. I just wasn’t sure how well these were going to turn out. Baked donuts always make me a bit nervous that way. They can only go one of two ways. They are either the most fantastic little bites of sweet fluff you’ve ever had, OR they are dense and dry like baked hockey pucks. I’m telling you, those are the only two options with baked donuts.

But OMG. This is a winning recipe for sure. Fantastic little bites of sweet fluff it is!

I think part of my hesitation with these was about the maple. I can appreciate a drizzle of syrup on my breakfast goods, or in my banana bread, but really? Maple flavored things are not usually my favorite. If I am going to have something in that flavor profile, it really has to be good. Otherwise, I’m completely not interested.

But these donuts maaaay be the beginning of my mind changing. Because these are insanely delicious.

The donuts themselves are the fluffiest, best texture. They are baked, not fried, which gives them more of that fluffy cake donut texture. I am obsessed. They are tinged with the flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg and everything cozy. Sweet but light. Absolute perfection.

And then things get crazy. In the best way possible. As with most donuts, the glaze is what makes these something spectacular. I am a huge glazed donut fan. In fact, regular ol’ glazed might just be my favorite donut ever. It’s right up there with a blueberry cake donut. Swoon. But there is something about a simple but sweet glaze that just gets me.

These donuts have a simple maple glaze that comes together in a minutes on the stove. It cools to create the BEST glaze on the donuts. It’s smooth and glossy and sets up beautifully. AND! It’s tinged with flaky sea salt, which basically means it was meant for my pie hole. I love the salty sweet combo more than the average person, I think. Salted caramel is one trend I am so not over yet. And probably never will be.

That’s what inspired this recipe in my head. I wanted to do a salty-sweet donut, but not the usual salted caramel combo. So, salted maple it was! And I am so, so happy with the results.

There are few things that can get me back to eating with a vengeance after being ill for so long. And these donuts are one of them.

Baked Salted Maple Donuts

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• Yield: 6-8 donuts, depending on your donut pan 1x

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Ingredients

For the Donuts:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon fine salt
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• ¼ cup whole milk
• ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt (I used 2%)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Salted Maple Glaze:

• ½ cup maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• ½–1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

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Instructions

For the Donuts:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter or spray your donut pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Whisk the egg, brown sugar, maple syrup, milk, yogurt, melted butter, and vanilla together until smooth and well combined.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and stir gently until just combined, trying not to overmix the batter.
5. Spoon the batter into a large resealable plastic bag and snip one corner of the bag. Carefully pipe the batter out of the bag into your donut pan, filling each donut well ¾ of the way full.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the batter is set and the edges are lightly browned. Cool for a couple minutes in the pan and then carefully transfer the donuts to a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the Salted Maple Glaze:

1. Place the maple syrup in a small pot over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until it is reduced by roughly half.
2. Whisk in the butter until it is completely smooth and melted.
3. Remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the powdered sugar, a little at a time, mixing until a smooth glaze forms.
4. Whisk in ½ teaspoon of the sea salt, taste (carefully! It will be warm), and add more sea salt if needed.
5. If the glaze gets too thick as it cools, whisk in 1-2 teaspoons of water until it becomes a drizzling consistency.

To Glaze:

1. Dip each donut in the warm glaze and return them to the cooling rack to sit until the glaze has set, about 10 minutes. If desired, sprinkle each donut with a little extra flaky sea salt before the glaze has completely hardened.

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Adapted from here.

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